Allstate Says Book Value to Rise on Cut in Employees’ Retirement Benefits

Isn’t that the new corporate norm? Cut the workers and reward the investors… where would the investors be if the workers were not there to feed their bank accounts? I doubt any of the “investors” are capable of selling insurance.

Let’s not forget where the home office is. The great State of Illinois has all kinds of problems. State Farm moved a lot of their operaions to Dallas/Ft.Worth and decreased their presence in Illinois. I have little respect for the Good Hands people. They have screwed their agents over necessitating a guild/union to deal with management. They bought Esurance to do business direct and now they are reducing their employees benefits. I guess the employees they don’t cull from the ranks will be thankful they have a job in this economy.

State Farm has not moved a lot of their operations from IL to Dallas, in fact they are growing at such a high rate that they are out of space in Bloomington and are growing 4 large hubs across the country to accomodate that growth. Their corporate office and all employees there are in no need to worry about having to move.

All wrong Problem. I have a friend whose brother works at State Farm in Bloomington. They are reducing presence there and they are about doubling their presence in Dallas/Ft Worth. I believe it is all about cost of doing business and the excessive taxation in Illinois who is busy running businesses off right and left in that state.

Allstate treats their agents so well that the agents had to form a guild/union to deal with management. A lot of the Independent Agency companies have been bombarded with requests for appointments to go independent.

The Allstate Corporation (NYSE: ALL) today announced that it has obtained all required regulatory approvals and closed its acquisition of Esurance and Answer Financial from White Mountains Insurance Group, Ltd. (NYSE: WTM). The purchase price was approximately $1 billion. The transaction is expected to be non-dilutive to Allstate’s earnings in the second full year of ownership.

I asked some of my markets who were in the Esurance line up how they liked having their competitor Allstate know all their rates with Esurance. Their marketing reps faces were all like a deer in the headlights. I don’t know of any who pulled out of Esurance. I wonder how many times Allstate ends up being low in the quotes generated.

Is Esurance like a competitive rater that gives you rates for multiple carriers? If so, how do carriers other than Allstate make sure the rates that are in there are correct? That’s kind of like the fox guarding the henhouse, isn’t it?

Libby, as I understand it, Esurance is like a comparative rater that will provide quotes for several carriers based on their filings etc. Esurance single enters the info and out pops the quotes. Allstate has control of Esurance so they can manipulate it however they want. Before Esurance was acquired by Allstate, I think it was an honest quoting system. Now, I am not so sure knowing what we know about Allstate, their treatment of agents and employees.

Esurance is an underwriting company, not a rater. They do offer a competitive rater, but that’s not what they are. Their website is just like Progressive Direct – They’ll show you the competitor’s rates.

July 22, 2013 at 3:43 pm

Agentsays:

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Mark, If Esurance is not a comparative rater, where do they get the rates of the companies they quote? I would think the participating carriers would provide underwriting and rates based on info put in the system. How could anyone trust the rates shown on the quotes if it is not legit.

July 17, 2013 at 4:16 pm

scootersays:

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What they did not mention is that CEO Tom Wilson got a 53% raise in compensation in 2012. His package is now only worth $17 mil.

If you want to know what really happened to the corporate American worker, read “Retirement Heist” by Ellen Schultz. It will tell you everything you need to know how we got swindled by our own employers. Interestingly, government workers weren’t screwed over (yet) because of government oversight that was not extended to the corporate worker.

Celtica, You paint with a broad brush and are indicting all companies saying they are screwing over their workers. That is certainly not the case with all companies. Why don’t you talk about public sector unions who have negotiated lucrative retirement benefits at the expense of the tax payer and who are bankrupting many cities across the country? There was a story recently how a retired female county supervisor in California who was collecting an annual pension of $400,000. There is no way to support that type of retirement plan and as a result, several California cities are either bankrupt like Stockton or near bankrupt.

Agent: I alluded to government retirements being outside the scope of corporate greed due to government oversight of government employees.

Unfortunately — but hardly isolated, the retired county supervisor is an extreme example of local county governments run amok. We have examples of that in our own county of employees earning 250k a year in retirement who stacked their benefits. This is unsustainable and just plain greedy. In our case, the county supervisors snuck this under the table without public review. Shameful. And they have no plans to change it for those in system but have going forward for new employess. Big Whoop. At a certain point, I will move away to a more affordable area as I certainly won’t be getting that amount in retirement — and I sure as hell won’t pay taxes to support that.

What government oversight Celtica? If there were true oversight, many state and local pension plans would not be in so much trouble and so underfunded? The City of Detroit just filed Chapter 9 because they have $18.9 Billion debt primarily due to legacy costs of retirees. I would submit that union greed is a far worse problem than corporate greed. You could ask FFA about the State of Illinois has around $80 Billion in unfunded liability in their state’s pension plan.

A little over a decade ago, most companies had more than enough set aside to pay the benefits earned by two generations of workers, no matter how long they lived. But by exploiting loopholes, ambiguous regulations, and new accounting rules, companies essentially turned their pension plans into piggy banks, tax shelters, and profit centers.

Drawing on original analysis of company data, government filings, internal corporate documents, and confidential memos, Schultz uncovers decades of widespread deception during which employers have exaggerated their retiree burdens while lobbying for government handouts, secretly cutting pensions, tricking employees, and misleading shareholders

i’m one of the employees who’s benefits were drop…lost the life insurance part…After 37 years of service as an agent of help building the company they did it to make the company worth a buck more on paper…When i retired the company got back free of charge all my clients and the money they saved by not having to pay me would have financed my benefits…so much for trust…

Obama economy? Where do you get that? This is corporate greed at it’s finest. And the greatest things about the “haves” is they don’t have to let anything trickle down if they don’t want to. They’ve got theirs.

We are ALLSTATE and we can do whatever we want to. Said The big CEO Tom Wilson. If you work for this company look for a new job. If you have a policy with the company go to another company to insure your home, auto and life. And if you live in an urban area Allstate want even insure you. Have the good hands drop your policy, stolen your agency or cut your benefits to may a PROFIT at your expense. Sell your stock now!

Dropping the retiree Life Ins. is devastating to those in their 70’s
&80’s. Its a breech of contract & betrayal without warning.They cannot afford the exorbitant rates to replace it. They should file a class action law suit against Allstate. This is the Good Hands Logo turned upside down dumping them out.

I worked for Allstate for over 30 years as an adjuster. One of our retiree benefits was life insurance. I had $70,000 and now they are going to stop giving it to us. I have been checking around and I can only get about $10-$15 thousand and it will cost me about $280 per month and at 75 will increase to over $400 a month. Most of the life companies will stop giving coverage at age 80. Some will provide after that but I have to know the cost. I really am upset with Allstate in not taking care of its retirees. I am really hoping to see a class action suit against them over this. I nothing soon, I will be consulting my own attorney. I guess they thing they can get away with this, but it is morally wrong.

I am the daughter of a retired insurance agent. My father is now in his eighties and is so upset.because he was promised his life insurance as part of his hiring package. Unfortunately he is not capable, of fighting the fight on his own. If anyone knows of a group fighting this fight please let me know. My father feels betrayed after working so hard to build a business for Allstate. I would like to restore his faith in mankind.

Deborah, it always wise for an agent to buy Individual Life Insurance early on instead of depending on some Life policy the company set up for them. Captive agents are always vulnerable to what the company may do in the future.

Were you retired when they took the life insurance away? My father is in the same position. He was promised life insurance for life when he took the job several years ago. Is it legal to take away something that was promised? We are Considering class action law suit. Looking for supporters.

Corporate America wins again… this is what the DeMoulas/Market Basket family fight in MA is all about.. part of the family wants to cut employee benefits so they can reap more profit. Greed will destroy the country. Our country was built by MEN who thought about their family, community, region, business and country.. They did not function only for profit. Being wealthy maybe once meant having a better life than your employees but today it is about ammassing more money than than the men in your clique… country be damned!

art paras retired agent says. allstate has been in the life industry over 50 yrs they should know that by terminating retirees life ins retirees have no where to go most are in their 80s or late 70s premiums paid to met life all these yr benefited met life my new premium for similar coverage is $8900/ thanks allstate in sure futre widows and family members will appreciate what youve done

A loyal Allstate employee for 35 years and would have been an Allstate Insured for 50years in Sept 2013. I’ve shopped for all my insurance, auto/h.o./umbrella and found I should have switched years ago. I urge all retirees to shop and see what the company has done, This is just one of many things including medical benefits and other promises they haven’t kept. Becoming a “stock” company was the beginning of the companies downhill spiral.

Some of you may remember a time back in the ’80’s when Wall Street corporate raiders would buy a company for its overinflated retirement plans, raid the coffers then spin off the companies to other buyers. Well, it looks like Allstate has found a way to raid its own coffers. Yes, Allstate has done it once more…They are cutting the employees retirement (again) so there can be more payoff to the shareholders and bigger bonuses for Tommy Boy & his cronies!!! They now have possession of the employees retirement account to use as their own little piggy bank. This is cash stolen from the employees, to be used towards their bottom line profit. You have to admit, Allstate is creative in finding ways to steal from the public, their customers, the government as well as their employees-and it’s all legal. They’re just good like that.

Those at the top are not getting richer because they have great ideas on putting together a fantastic product to sell at a reasonable price. Wouldn’t that be great for the sales agents if they did? But in fact, they don’t have any ideas for a better product. Their ideas are based on how to screw their own customers by giving them less coverage on their policies at a higher price. Hey! Lots of profit there.

Their ideas are also based on screwing the claimants by paying them less. Let’s not forget that Allstate paid McKinsey Company millions of dollars to tell Allstate how they can make more profit-not by better ideas, but by screwing those they do business with. Allstate then used the same process on their own insureds. McKinsey advised Allstate to cheat on claims so they can make more money…and they did! Lots more money!

Then McKinsey told Allstate how they can make even more money by screwing their own employees, including their sales agents-and they made even more money! Lots more money! McKinsey Company advised Allstate to cut back on their expenses (employees). Fewer employees meant the remaining employees were forced to work longer hours for no overtime pay-not even straight regular pay. Now Allstate is cutting the employees retirement plan once again, and Allstate expects the Allstate stock to go higher, and it will. And Tommy Boy will get his huge bonus at the employees detrimate. The list goes on and on how Allstate screws whomever they do business with or come into contact with. There is no doubt that the affluent rulers at the top are getting richer at the expense of their hard working employees, their sales agents, their insurds, the claimants as well as the public.

But wait a minute…I thought the guy at the helm, the CEO, was supposed to have and to implement those ideas, good or bad. That’s what he’s getting those millions for in the first place. So Allstate hired a guy and paid him lots of money to run the ship but he goes out and hires someone else to tell him how to run the ship. Allstate paid someone else (McKinsey) millions of dollars to tell themhow to run the company while the CEO stepped aside collecting his millions. Does anyone see anything wrong with this scenario? Isn’t it ironic that Allstate could have saved itself lots of money by getting rid of the CEO to begin with. Afterall, why is a CEO even necessary if they’re going to have another company give them direction on how to run Allstate Insurance Company.

I don’t mind people getting rich or even richer. That’s one of the great things about America-great ideas and hard work are rewarded. What I do mind is the brazenly selfish, greedy but legal theft from the employees pockets so the wealthy can go home even wealthier while those who are actually working in the trenches are forced to work years longer for less pay and fewer benefits.

Employees are not the only ones getting the shaft from the good hands people. You may have read about the agents forming a guild/union to deal with management since commissions were being cut among other things. I don’t know how they get new agents to appoint with their reputation. I suspect many don’t know what they are getting into and just want to be an agent.

I was an Allstate agent for 31 years. Out of the clear blue sky I received a FAX terminating my employment. The next few months where a nightmare from hell. I was forced to sell my book of business at one third the value or give it back to Allstate for one fourth the value. All of my stats where above average, except life sales. I was not costing the company any money and they took everything away from me. Allstate is all about upper management, screw the agents.